Sheriff's deputies in Florida suspended

[Tiassa]

Source: Tampa Tribune (TBO.com)
Link: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/feb/13/na-toss-from-wheelchair-brings-jail-suspensions/
Title: "Toss From Wheelchair Brings Jail Suspensions", by Mike Wells
Date: February 13, 2008

It sounds like a bad joke. The kind of thing where you say to a friend, "Did you hear about ...?" And they look back at you like you're insane and say, "No way. What're you smoking?"

Four Hillsborough County, Florida sheriff's deputies have been suspended after one of them, Deputy Charlette Marshall-Jones dumped a disabled man out of his wheelchair last month.

Yes, it really happened: Sterner tumbles to the floor​

The video—yes, there is video—is astounding.

Sheriff David Gee is doing better than I am; he can do more than string together long phrases of profanity:

Sheriff David Gee said he was at a loss for words after viewing the video.

"This was not a training issue," Gee said late Tuesday. "It's a human decency issue. I can't imagine any explanation she might have.

"It's like being a blackjack dealer in Vegas," the sheriff said of the surveillance system. "I put those cameras in there for a reason. They're to protect the deputies as much as the suspects who are brought in" ....

.... The sheriff is in Jacksonville at a Florida Sheriff's Association meeting, leaving Chief Deputy Jose Docobo in command.

After watching the tape Monday, Docobo ordered Marshall-Jones to be immediately suspended without pay, he said. Three of her supervisors who were visible on the tape were suspended with pay.

"The actions are indefensible, at every level," Docobo said. "Based on what I saw, anything short of dismissal would be inappropriate."

Sterner's attorney, John Trevena, said he wants Marshall-Jones charged with felony battery and wants her supervisors to be disciplined and to undergo mandatory retraining so that this kind of incident is not repeated.

Gee said he spoke to Trevena early Tuesday evening and conveyed his feelings on the matter.

"I'm embarrassed, professionally and personally," the sheriff said. "I can't offer an explanation."

(Wells)

Chief Deputy Doboco, we should note, has not taken the "let's wait until the review is finished" route. Then again, this isn't that kind of situation.

None of the three supervisors who appear in the video did anything about the situation. One, Cpl. Steve Dickey, seemed to smile at the situation.

He drives a Mini Cooper outfitted with hand controls. On Oct. 25, Tampa police ticketed him, saying he blocked an intersection, court records show. He later was charged with a third-degree felony of fleeing to elude an officer in connection with the same incident.

Trevena called the felony charge questionable. "He made no attempt to evade," Trevena said. "He made one turn and stopped."

On Jan. 12, Sterner was ticketed again. The citation says he was driving with a suspended license without knowledge, meaning he didn't know his license was suspended, Trevena said. He wasn't arrested at the time because the felony warrant had not been filed.

A deputy arrived at his Riverview home on Jan. 29 to serve the warrant.

Sterner was brought into the booking room in a wheelchair owned by the jail. Marshall-Jones ordered him to stand, Sterner said. He told her he couldn't.

"She was irked that I wasn't complying to what she was telling me to do," he said. "It didn't register with her that she was asking me to do something I can't do."

Sterner said he thought he had suffered two cracked ribs, but it turned out to be bruising, Trevena said. An X-ray showed no fractures.

Marshall-Jones offered no apologies, Sterner said. "Not one word."

He was released five days later after posting $2,000 bail, records show.

Sterner said his stay was made even more humiliating when he had a bowel accident and was left to sit in his waste for three or four hours until a staff member helped him clean up.

(ibid)

I mean, really. If you want to know how to render me speechless, this is damn near enough to do the job.

 

[phlogistician]

Asking a man in a wheel chair to stand up? DUH!

Getting brutal when he can't, .... just plain inhuman. What ever happened to working within the spirit of the law, rather than to the letter, ... I doubt this guy was deliberately blocking an intersection, perhaps he stalled, one look at the car should have made the officer show some compassion. Ticketing for anyone should be reserved for those that refuse to move, or who cause another some distress, not just for stepping on the cracks in the pavement.

 

[cosmictraveler]

The man hasn't as yet been proven that he was physically handicapped in any way. He just refused to walk and was put into the wheelchair. PERHAPS he was just pulling the police officers chain and that's why she dumped him out of the chair. I'd like to see a medical report from a qualified doctor saying that he really was handicapped or just what his problem really is. In time we will know the facts but only after a medical exam. :shrug:

 

[Orleander]

he drives a car with hand controls. Wouldn't that suggest something???

 

[cosmictraveler]

It means we still don't know what his medical problems were. I've known people that can walk that use hand controls because their legs aren't as good as they once were.

 

[Orleander]

cosmic, did you even read the link? The man hasn't walked in 14 years.

 

[cosmictraveler]

cosmic, did you even read the link? The man hasn't walked in 14 years.

Then I stand corrected, thank you.

 

[phlogistician]

Then I stand corrected, thank you.

It doesn't matter what the guy claimed, the Police did not have a right to turn him out of his chair, without first KNOWING he was fully capable of standing. If there was any doubt, they should not have got physical.

We should not accept the idea that we have to prove a damn thing to the Police, we are innocent until proven guilty.

 

[cosmictraveler]

It doesn't matter what the guy claimed, the Police did not have a right to turn him out of his chair, without first KNOWING he was fully capable of standing. If there was any doubt, they should not have got physical.

We should not accept the idea that we have to prove a damn thing to the Police, we are innocent until proven guilty.

The problem is that the police didn't have his medical records AND I'll bet he was trying to provoke the police into doing something stupid like this.I'm saying the police were right in doing this at all, but they weren't fully aware of his condition plus he might have been acting like a jackass with them.

 

[phlogistician]

The problem is that the police didn't have his medical records AND I'll bet he was trying to provoke the police into doing something stupid like this.I'm saying the police were right in doing this at all, but they weren't fully aware of his condition plus he might have been acting like a jackass with them.

You see a lot more in that vid that I do, and without sound too. But you miss the point, if the guy says he can't stand, and they provided a wheelchair to get him to the police station, they have no place tipping him out of it. They were totally in the wrong, he was not in a position to have to prove shit at that point, common human decency should have kept that fat cop from throwing the guy on the floor.

 

[Tiassa]

Sheriff apologizes; deputy unrepentant; policy note

Well, the article at the topic link has been updated. The new title is "Gee Apologizes For Treatment Of Inmate In Wheelchair", and opens with discussion of that apology. Deputy Marshall-Jones is, thus far, unrepentant:

"I offer my personal apology to Mr. Sterner for the treatment that he received while being processed through Central Booking," Gee said. "I want to assure him, and the public at large, that this incident is not indicative of the behavior of the over 3,500 men and women of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office who perform their duties with pride and professionalism on a daily basis."

The deputy in question told News Channel 8 she is confident she will be redeemed.

"I feel positive," Hillsborough County Detention Deputy Charlette Marshall-Jones said in a telephone interview this morning. "When I know I'm not wrong, I feel that way. … I do believe the truth will come out, but I can't offer more than that."

(Wells and Klaus)

Additionally, even if she felt she had legitimate reason to doubt Mr. Sterner's status—

There are more than 30 other inmates in jail who use wheelchairs, and their special needs are nothing new to the department, Docobo said.

The sheriff's office has a policy to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act. It also requires "an intake nurse to assess inmates upon admission for evidence of a disability or special management need."

(ibid)

—there were other ways to make the point. It will probably be difficult, but not impossible, to explain why she did not call for a medical evaluation.

Unfortunately, I did not quote a part of the article that seems to have been edited since. I believe the union intends to fight for Deputy Marshall-Jones. The only defense I can see is that they might try to make it about training and procedures, as in, "We couldn't call the nurse until he was admitted, and we couldn't finish admitting him until we searched him. It was unsafe to call the nurse before that. What were we supposed to do?"

And that's as close as I can get. But since inmates in wheelchairs are nothing new to the department, it would seem they've been through this before, so it's not much of a defense.
_____________________

Notes:

Wells, Mike and Krista Klaus. "Gee Apologizes For Treatment Of Inmate In Wheelchair". TBO.com. February 13, 2008. See http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/feb/13/na-toss-from-wheelchair-brings-jail-suspensions/